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Sold for the Benefit of the Memorial Fund. 



THE 

FREEDOM SPEECH 




WENDELL PHILLIPS. 



FANEUIL HALL, DECEMBER 8, 1837, 
WITH DESCRIPTIVE LETTERS FROM EYE WITNESSES. 



boston : 
Wendell Phillips Hall Association. 

1891. 



The People's Tribute to a Great Man. 

The Wendell Phillips Hall Association is incorporated for 
the purpose of erecting a Memorial Building in commemmo- 
ration of the life and public services of Wendell Phillips. 
Gen. B. F. Butler is President, and Ex-Gov. J. Q. A. Brackett, 
Treasurer, with a representative and efficient Board of Di- 
rectors. 

The building is to be centrally located and contain a large 
hall and several smaller audience, committee and class rooms, 
constituting essentially a "Cooper Union" for Boston, with 
memorial features, which will make it stand to the period it 
commemorates as Pilgrim Hall and Forefathers' Monument to 
the settlement of Plymouth, or as Bunker Hill Monument, the 
old South Church and Faneuil Hall to the Revolutionary era. 

In appropriate portions of the building will be stained 
glass windows, paintings, and bas-reliefs portraying the 
most thrilling episodes in Phillips' life, including his fa- 
mous Faneuil Hall speech ; also, scenes from the lives, of 
Wm. Lloyd Garrison, Charles Sumner, John Brown and 
others, from the shooting of Lovejoy, at Alton, 111., to the 
signing of the Emancipation Proclamation by Abraham Lin- 
coln. There will be a museum for the preservation of souve- 
nirs, letters and documents pertaining to the period. 

A lectureship resembling those of the Lowell Institute, 
and classes for economic and industrial training, are to be es- 
tablished in connection with the hall, also a well equipped 
reading-room and library. The movement does not represent 
any one class, but aims to bring rich and poor, employer and 
employed, into sympathetic and mutually helpful relations; 

Believing tliat many will esteem it a privilege to 
contribute something in aid of tJie model memorial and 
educational institution of the age, convenient envelopes 
have been prepared ', and you are earnestly invited to 
do what you ca?i to promote this worthy and great un- 
dertaking. 

It is fitting that at least a hundred thousand persons 
should be represented in this tribute to Wen dell Phillips. 
Why not do your share now? 



Sold for the Benefit of the Memorial Fund. 



THE 



SPEECH 




**fr 3 



WENDELL PHILLIPS. 

FANEUIL HALL, DECEMBER 8, 1837. 
WITH DESCRIPTIVE LETTERS FROM EYE WITNESSES. 



BOSTON : 

Wendell Phillips Hall Association. 

1S91. 



F&1 °\ 



Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1891, by 

JOHN LATHAM, 

In the Office of the Librarian of Congress at Washington, 1). C. 



THE SPEECH ITSELF IS FROM 

LECTURES AND LETTERS OF WENDELL PHILLIPS, 

by permission of the publishers, 

Messrs. Lee & Shepard, 

bostox. 



INTRODUCTION. 



Viewed in the light of subsequent events the meeting in Fa- 
neuil Hall, Dec. 8, 1837. was an occasion of such supreme signifi- 
cance as to determine the management of the Wendell Phillips 
Hall Association to give its fifty-ithird anniversary fitting commemo- 
ration within the same pictured and time-honored walls. A call 
was accordingly issued in November of 1S90, with a special invita- 
tion for all surviving participants in that memorable meeting to 
communicate with the secretary of the association bv letter in the 
event of not being able to be present in Faneuil Hall Dec. 8th. 
Notwithstanding the inclemency of the weather there were spirited 
and highly interesting sessions both afternoon and evening, which 
were addressed by a large number of distinguished and enthusiastic 
speakers. 

Fifty-three years, as life runs, is a good span of time and prob- 
ably but few of those who heard Wendell Phillip's speech in 1837 
are now alive, and those of necessity well advanced in years. Two, 
J. Valentine Sullivan of Newton and Edward Whitney of Belmont, 
were present. Two others, Sarah II. Southwick and Rev. Artemus 
IJ. Muzzey, D. D., sent highly interesting letters that are printed 
herewith together with the freedom speech of which George William 
Curtis says : "In the annals of American speech there has been no 
such scene since Patrick Henry's electrical warning to George the 
Third. It was that greatest of oratorical triumphs when a supreme 
emotion, a sentiment which is to mould a people anew, lifted the 
orator to adequate expression. Three such scenes are illustrious 
in our history: that of the speech of Patrick Henry at Williams- 
burg, of Wendell Phillips in Faneuil Hall, of Abraham Lincoln in 
Gettysburg. — three, and there is no fourth. They transmil unex- 
tinguished the torch of an eloquence which has aroused nations 
and changed the course of history, and which Webster called 
'noble, sublime, godlike action.'" 

Jonx Latham. 



LETTERS FROM EYE WITNESSES. 

Wellesley Hills, Nov. 17, 1890. 
Mr. John Latham : 

Dear Sir, — In reply to jour communication asking information 
in regard to Mr. Phillips' speech at Faneuil Hall, Dec. S, 1S37, I can 
give you very little in addition to what is already contained in his 
Biographies. It was not then the custom for women to attend any 
kind of meetings in Faneuil Hall, but Mrs. Maria W. Chapman and 
twelve other women of whom I was one, attended that meeting. 
From that day Faneuil Hall has always been open to women. I 
suppose there are others in the community who were present that 
day, but I can think of no one to whom to refer you. We sat in 
the front seat of the right hand gallery as you enter the hall and 
listened to the proceedings with intense interest! The death of 
Lovejoy had produced a great excitement in the community. Peo- 
ple, who were not abolitionists, felt the necessity of maintaining 
Freedom of Speech and of the Press, and the indignation was great 
at the refusal of the Mayor and Aldermen to grant the use of Fan- 
euil Hall to a meeting of citizens to express that indignation. I 
recall my own delight and that of others when Dr. Channing, who 
did not call himself an abolitionist, came to the rescue, and by al- 
lowing his name to head a petition for the use of the hall, the req- 
uisite names of "one hundred legal voters" were obtained, which 
by the City ordinance compelled the Mayor and Aldermen to grant 
it, nolens volens. The meeting was called in the forenoon and 
the hall was packed with an audience of men, mostly standing, and 
from the beginning it was seen to contain a large mobocratic ele- 
ment, who listened with ill-concealed impatience to the temperate 
but earnest addresses of the chairman and Dr. Channing. But 
when Mr. Austin, the Attorney-General, rose in the gallery and 
with loud and impassioned voice and gesture addressed himself to 
the worst passions of the audience, declaring that Lovejoy "died as 
the fool dieth," the storm of applause and hisses was deafening. 
We, listening to it from the gallery, held our breath with fear, for it 
really seemed as though the resolutions in behalf of Free Speech 
and a Free Press, which had been presented to the meeting would 
be voted down. Imagine our surprise and delight, when we saw a 
young man, a stranger, rise and administer such a scathing rebuke 
to Mr. Austin, and imagine the relief we felt, as we saw him subdue and 
control the crowd below and heard the hisses give way to cheers. 
I think Mr. Phillips' power over that audience was one of the most 



so thrilled me with the majesty of true eloquence. "Who is this 
young man ?" was the whisper from side to side. A stranger to near- 
ly all present, we were, startled and overpowered by the man, 
his language and his manner. Such was his power, that the speak- 
er's voice was overwhelmed by cries on all sides, "Take that back, 
take back the word'recreant.'" Others exclaimed, "Go on !""Goon !" 
Two men, evidently friends of the speaker, came to the front of the 
platform. Some shouted "Phillips or nobody •!" Others screamed 
"make him take back that 'recreant.'" "He shan't go on till he 
does take it back." One of the two I mention raised his hand, and the 
excitement for a moment stopped. This friend of the speaker con- 
jured the audience, by their regard for the hall and 'everything they 
held sacred, to "listen to every man who addressed them in a de- 
corous manner." And now the young orator, whose voice had 
stirred such wrath, renewed his speaking. "Fellow citizens, "said he, 
••I cannot take back my words. The Attorney-General," he went on, 
"so long and well known here, needs not the aid of your hisses 
against one so young as I am — my voice never before heard within 
these walls." 

I may be excused for saying that I rejoice that we are to have a 
Hall built to the memory of Wendell Phillips. I am not a recent 
convert to the cause in which and for which he lived and labored un- 
til the glorious result of his work was consummated in the freedom 
of the slaves on our soil and their elevation to the rank of full citi- 
zenship. Long before the horrible event which brought Phillips forth 
as the champion of this glorious work I was a believer in and. in 
my humble way, an upholder of Abolition. In my parish was one, 
who, seeing my interest in this cause, said to me, "You must either 
give up your connection with Abolition or give up your parish." I 
had introduced the subject in my pulpit, had taken part in the dis- 
cussion of it for five successive meetings of our Lyceum, and had 
even dared to bring it up for conversation in our parish ladies' as- 
sociation. This was too much. He was laboring for the coloniza- 
tion of slaves, and gave of his time and money for that purpose. I 
said that to think of abolishing slavery in that way was like attempt- 
ing to bail up the ocean with a basin. He went on with his course 
and I with mine. He lived to see the day when he could cause my 
withdrawal from my society, but I have never ceased to rejoice that 
I did all I could to hasten that blessed day when Abraham Lincoln 
spoke, and it was done. 

Artemus Bowi-rs Mlzzey. 

Cambridge, Dec. i. 1S90. 



remarkable scenes on record. I suppose he was known to some 
people present, but to the Abolitionists generally he was a stranger. 
To me, excited as I was. he seemed the impersonation of manly 
beauty, grace and eloquence. 

Very respectfully, 

Sarah II. Southwick. 



THE BIRTH SPEECH OF WENDELL PHILLIPS. 



In reply to a request of the Wendell Phillips Hall Association, I 
would state that I was present at the meeting in Faneuil Hall, Bos- 
ton, Dec. 8, 1S37. Although now in my eighty-ninth year, I recall 
distinctly the events of that occasion. The Rev. Elijah P. Lovejoy 
had been killed by a mob Nov. 7, while attempting to defend his print- 
ing press in Alton, Illinois. On the news of this, Rev. Wm. E. 
Channing headed a petition to the Mayor and Aldermen of Boston 
fortheuse of Faneuil Hall forameeting of indignant remonstrance. 
Hon. Jonathan Phillips was chairman of the meeting, and after a 
few remarks by him, Dr. Channing followed in an address, brief but 
most eloquent. A series of resolutions by him was supported by 
Mr. George S. Hillard. Everything so far was decorous, in perfect 
harmony and sympathy with the great cause of human freedom. 
In an instant, however, rose in the gallery. James T. Austin, Attor- 
ney-General of Massachusetts, a well known lawyer. With a voice 
harsh and discordant, and a face full of wrath he affirmed that Love- 
joy "died as the fool dieth," and he ought to have been killed, for 
he assailed the rights of the people of Missouri to their property in 
slaves, and he should have been treated as a wild beast of the men- 
agerie. He justified those mob murderers by comparing them to 
the fathers of the revolution. Many of the assembly applauded, but 
in a moment a change followed. 

Standing near me was a young man, his face radiant, his eye direct- 
ed toward the chairman and his voice, as he addressed the grave man 
in the chair, thrilling with indignation. Stepping forward he at once 
mounted the platform and broke forth in the commanding strain: 
"Sir, when I heard the gentleman just seated, lay down principles 
which place the murderers of Alton side by side with Otis and 
Hancock, with Qiiincy and Adams. I thought those pictured lips, 
(pointing to the portraits in the hall) would have broken into voice 
to rebuke the recreant American, the slanderer of the dead." Since 
the day when I heard Webster in this same hall, on the death of Jef- 
ferson and Adams, I had never heard word there or elsewhere, that 



THE MURDER OF LOVEJOY. 



On November 7, 1837, Rev. E. P. Lovejoy was shot by a mob at Alton, 
Illinois, while attempting to defend his printing-press from destmction. 
When this was known in Boston, William Ellery Channing headed a 
petition to the Mayor and Aldermen, asking the use of Faneuil Hall 
for a public meeting. The request was refused. Dr. Channing then 
addressed a very impressive letter to his fellow-citizens, which resulted 
in a meeting of influential gentleman at the Old Court Room. Reso- 
lutions, drawn by Hon. B. F. Hallett, were unanimously adopted, and 
measures taken to secure a much larger number of names to the peti- 
tion. This call the Mayor and Aldermen obeyed. 

The meeting was held on the 8th of December, and organized, with 
the Hon. Jonathan Phillips for Chairman. 

Dr. Channing made a brief and eloquent address. Resolution^ 
drawn by him, were then read and offered by Mr. Hallett, and sec- 
onded in an able speech by George S. Hillard, Esq. 

The Hon. James T. Austin, Attorney-General of the Commonwealth,, 
followed in a speech of the utmost bitterness, styled by the Boston 
Atlas a few days after " most able and triumphant." He compared 
the slaves to a menagerie of wild beasts, and the rioters at Alton to 
the "orderly mob" which threw the tea overboard in 1773, — talked 
of the " conflict of laws " between Missouri and Illinois, — declared 
that Lovejoy was " presumptuous and imprudent," and " died as the 
fool dieth " ; in direct and most insulting reference to Dr. Chan- 
ning, he asserted that a clergyman with a gun in his hand, or one 
" mingling in the debates of a popular assembly, was marvellously 
out of place." 

The speech of the Attorney-General produced great excitement 
throughout the Hall. Wendell Phillips, Esq., who had not expected 



8 FREEDOM SPEECH. 

to take part in the meeting, rose to reply. That portion of th: assem- 
bly which sympathized with Mr. Austin now became so boisterous, that 
Mr. Phillips had difficulty for a while in getting the attention of the 
audience. 

FREEDOM SPEECH. 



MR. CHAIRMAN : — We have met for the freest dis- 
cussion of these resolutions, and the events which 
gave rise to them. [Cries of " Question," " Hear him," 
" Go on," " No gagging," etc.] I hope I shall be per- 
mitted to express my surprise at the sentiments of the last 
speaker, — surprise not only at such sentiments from such 
a man, but at the applause they have received within these 
walls. A comparison has been drawn between the events 
of the Revolution and the tragedy at Alton. We have 
heard it asserted here, in Faheuil Hall, that Great Britain 
had a right to tax the Colonies, and we have heard the 
mob at Alton, the drunken murderers of Lovejoy, com- 
pared to those patriot fathers who threw the tea over- 
board ! [Great applause.] Fellow-citizens, is this Faneuil 
Hall doctrine ? [" No, no."] The mob at Alton were met 
to wrest from a citizen his just rights, — met to resist the 
laws. We have been told that our fathers did the same ; 
and the glorious mantle of Revolutionary precedent has 
been thrown over the mobs of our day. To make out 
their title to such defence, the gentleman says that the 
British Parliament had a right to tax these Colonies. It is 
manifest that, without this, his parallel falls to the ground: 
for Lovejoy had stationed himself within constitutional bul- 
warks. He was not only defending the freedom of the 
press, but he was under his own 7 jof, in arms with the 
sanction of the civil authority. The men who assailed 
him went against and over the laws. The mob, as the 
gentleman terms it, — mob, forsooth! certainly we sons 
of the tea-spillers are a marvellously patient generation ! — 



FREEDOM SPEECH. 9 

the " orderly mob " which assembled in the Old South to 
destroy the tea were met to resist, not the laws, but illegal 
exactions. Shame on the American who calls the tea-tax 
and stamp-act laws ! Our fathers resisted, not the King's 
prerogative, but the King's usurpation. To find any other 
account, you must read our Revolutionary history upside 
down. Our State archives are loaded with arguments of 
John Adams to prove the taxes laid by the British Parlia- 
ment unconstitutional, — beyond its power. It was not 
till this was made out that the men of New England rushed 
to arms. The arguments of the Council Chamber and the 
House of Representatives preceded and sanctioned the 
contest. To draw the conduct of our ancestors into a 
precedent for mobs, for a right to resist laws we ourselves 
have enacted, is an insult to their memory. The differ- 
ence between the excitements of those days and our own, 
which the gentleman in kindness to the latter has over- 
looked, is simply this : the men of that day went for the 
right, as secured by the laws. They were the people 
risino- to sustain the laws and constitution of the Province. 
The rioters of our day go for their own wills, right or 
wrong. Sir, when I heard the gentleman lay down prin- 
ciples which place the murderers of Alton side by side 
with Otis and Hancock, with Quincy and Adams, I 
thought those pictured lips [pointing to the portraits m 
the Hall] would have broken into voice to rebuke the 
recreant American, — the slanderer of the dead. [Great 
applause and counter applause.] The gentleman said that 
he should sink into insignificance if he dared to gainsay 
the principles of these resolutions. Sir, for the sentiments 
he has uttered, on soil consecrated by the prayers of Puri- 
tans #nd the blood of patriots, the earth should have 
yawned and swallowed him up. 

[Applause and hisses, with cries of " Take that back." The uproar 
became so great that for a long time no one could be heard. At length 



IO IKKKDOM SPEECH. 

G. Bond, Esq., and Hon. W. Sturgis came to Mr. Phillips's side at the 
front of the platform. They were met with cries of " Phillips or no- 
body," "Make him take back ' recreant,'" "He sha'n't go on till he 
takes it back." When it was understood they meant to sustain, not to 
interrupt, Mr. Phillips, Mr. Sturgis was listened to, and said : " I did 
not come here to take any part in this discussion, nor do I intend to ; 
but I do entreat you, fellow-citizens, by everything you hold sacred, — 
I conjure you by every association connected with this Hall, conse- 
crated by our fathers to freedom of discussion, — that you listen to every 
man who addresses you in a decorous manner." Mr. Phillips resumed.] 

Fellow-citizens, I cannot take back my words. Surely 
the Attorney-General, so long and well known here, needs 
not. the aid of your hisses against one so young as I am, — 
my voice never before heard within these walls ! 

Another ground has been taken to excuse the mob, and 
throw doubt and discredit on the conduct of Lovejoy and 
his associates. Allusion has been made to what lawyers 
understand very well, — the " conflict of laws." We are 
told that nothing but the Mississippi River rolls between 
St. Louis and Alton ; and the conflict of laws somehow or 
other gives the citizens of the former a right to find fault 
with the defender of the press for publishing his opinions 
so near their limits. Will the gentleman venture that 
argument before lawyers ? How the laws of the two 
States could be said to come into conflict in such circum- 
stances I question whether any lawyer in this audience 
can explain or understand. No matter whether the line 
that divides one sovereign State from another be an im- 
aginary one or ocean-wide, the moment you cross it the 
State you leave is blotted out of existence, so far as you 
are concerned. The Czar might as well claim to control 
the deliberations of Faneuil Hall, as the laws of Missouri 
demand reverence, or the shadow of obedience, frpm an 
inhabitant of Illinois. 

I must find some fault with the statement which has 
been made of the events at Alton. It has been asked 



FREEDOM SPEECH. II 

why Lovejoy and his friends did not appeal to the execu- 
tive, — trust their defence to the police of the city. It has 
been hinted that, from hasty and ill-judged excitement, the 
men within the building provoked a quarrel, and that he 
fell in the course of it, one mob resisting another. Recol- 
lect, Sir, that they did act with the approbation and sanction 
of the Mayor. In strict truth, there was no executive to 
appeal to for protection. The Mayor acknowledged that 
he could not protect them. They asked him if it was 
lawful for them to defend themselves. He told them it 
was, and sanctioned their assembling in arms to do so. 
They were not, then, a mob ; they were not merely citizens 
defending their own property ; they were in some sense 
the posse co?nitatus, adopted for the occasion into the police 
of the city, acting under the order of a magistrate. It 
was civil authority resisting lawless violence. Where, 
then, was the imprudence ? Is the doctrine to be sus- 
tained here, that it is imprudent for men to aid magis- 
trates in executing the laws? 

Men are continually asking each other, Had Lovejoy a 
right to resist ? Sir, I protest against the question, instead 
of answering it. Lovejoy did not resist, in the sense they 
mean. He did not throw himself back on the natural right 
of self-defence. He did not cry anarchy, and let slip the 
dogs of civil war, careless of the horrors which would follow. 

Sir, as I understand this affair, it was not an individual 
protecting his property ; it was not one body of armed men 
resisting another, and making the streets of a peaceful city 
run blood with their contentions. It did not bring back the 
scenes in some old Italian cities, where family met family, 
and faction met faction, and mutually trampled the laws 
under foot. No ; the men in that house were regularly 
enrolled, under the sanction of the Mayor. There being no 
militia in Alton, about seventy men were enrolled with the 
approbation of the Mayor. These relieved each other every 



FREEDOM SPEECH. 



other night. About thirty men were in arms on the night 
of the sixth, when the press was landed. The next even- 
ing, it was not thought necessary to summon more than 
half that number ; among these was Lovejoy. It was, 
therefore, you perceive, Sir, the police of the city resisting 
rioters, — civil government breasting itself to the shock of 
lawless men. 

Here is no question about the right of self-defence. It 
is in fact simply this : Has the civil magistrate a right to 
put down a riot ? 

Some persons seem to imagine that anarchy existed at 
Alton from the commencement of these disputes. Not at 
all. " No one of us," says an eyewitness and a comrade 
of Lovejoy, " has taken up arms during these disturbances 
but at the command of the Mayor." Anarchy did not 
settle down on that devoted city till Lovejoy breathed 
his last. Till' then the law, represented in his person, 
sustained itself against its foes. When he fell, civil 
authority was trampled under foot. He had " planted 
himself on his constitutional rights," — appealed to the 
laws, — claimed the protection of the civil authority, — 
taken refuge under " the broad shield of the Constitu- 
tion. When through that he was pierced and fell, he fell 
but one sufferer in a common catastrophe." He took 
refuge under the banner of liberty, — amid its folds ; and 
when he fell, its glorious stars and stripes, the emblem of 
free institutions, around which cluster so many heart-stir- 
ring memories, were blotted out in the martyr's blood. 

It has been stated, perhaps inadvertently, that Lovejoy 
or his comrades fired first. This is denied by those who 
have the best means of knowing. Guns were first fired 
by the mob. After being twice fired on, those within the 
building consulted together and deliberately returned the 
fire. But suppose they did fire first. They had a right 
so to do ; not only the right which every citizen has to 



FREEDOM SPEECH. I "} 

defend himself, but the further right which every civil 
officer has to resist violence. Even if Lovejoy fired the 
first gun, it would not lessen his claim to our sympathy, or 
destroy his title to be considered a martyr in defence of a 
free press. The question now is, Did he act within the 
Constitution and the laws ? The men who fell in State 
Street on the 5th of March, 1770, did more than Lovejoy 
is charged with. They were the first assailants. Upon 
some slight quarrel they pelted the troops with every mis- 
sile within reach. Did this bate one jot of the eulogy 
with which Hancock and Warren hallowed their mem- 
pry, hailing them as the first martyrs in the cause of 
American liberty ? 

If, Sir, I had adopted what are called Peace principles, I 
might lament the circumstances of this case. But all you 
who believe, as I do, in the right and duty of magistrates 
to execute the laws, join with me and brand as base hypoc- 
risy the conduct of those who assemble year after year on 
the 4th of July, to fight over the battles of the Revolution, 
and yet " damn with faint praise," or load with obloquy, 
the memory of this man, who shed his blood in defence 
of life, liberty, property, and the freedom of the press ! 

Throughout that terrible night I find nothing to regret 
but this, that within the limits of our country, civil author- 
ity should have been so prostrated as to oblige a citizen to 
arm in his own defence, and to arm in vain. The gentle- 
man says Lovejoy was presumptuous and imprudent, — he 
" died as the fool dieth." And a reverend clergyman of 
the city * tells us that no citizen has a right to publish 
opinions disagreeable to tho community ! If any mob 
follows such publication, on Mm rests its guilt ! He must 
wait, forsooth, till the people come up to it and agree with 

* See Rev. Hubbard Winslow's discourse on Liberty! in which he define* 
" republican liberty " to be " liberty to say and do what the prevailing voice 
and will of the brotherhood will allow and protect. " 



14 FREEDOM SPEECH. 

him ! T his libel on liberty goes on to say that the want 
of right to speak as we think is an evil inseparable from 
republican institutions ! If this be so, what are they 
worth ? Welcome the despotism of the Sultan, where 
one knows what he may publish and what he may not, 
rather than the tyranny of this many-headed monster, the 
mob, where we know not what we may do or say, till 
some fellow-citizen has tried it, and paid for the lesson 
with his life. This clerical absurdity chooses as a check 
for the abuses of the press, not the law, but the dread of 
a mob. By so doing, it deprives not only the individual 
and the minority of their rights, but the majority also, 
since the expression of their opinion may sometimes pro- 
voke disturbance from the minority. A few men may 
make a mob as well as many. The majority, then, have 
no right, as Christian men, to utter their sentiments, if by 
any possibility it may lead to a mob ! Shades of Hugh 
Peters and John Cotton, save us from such pulpits ! 

Imprudent to defend the liberty of the press ! Why ? 
Because the defence was unsuccessful ? Does success 
gild crime into patriotism, and the want of it change 
heroic self-devotion to imprudence ? Was Hampden im- 
prudent when he drew the sword and threw away the 
scabbard ? Yet he, judged by that single hour, was un- 
successful. After a short exile, the race he hated sat 
again upon the throne. 

Imagine yourself present when the first news of Bunker 
Hill battle reached a New England town. The tale would 
have run thus : " The patriots are routed, — the red- 
coats victorious, — Warren lies dead upon the field." With 
what scorn would that Tory have been received, who 
should have charged Warren with imprudence ! who should 
have said that, bred a physician, he was " out of place " in 
that battle, and " died as the fool dietlC ! [Great applause.] 
How would the intimation have been received, that War- 



FREEDOM SPEECH. 



15 



ren and his associates should have waited a better time ? 
But if success be indeed the only criterion of prudence, 
Respice finem, — wait till the end. 

Presumptuous to assert the freedom of the press on 
American ground ! Is the assertion of such freedom be- 
fore the age ? So much before the age as to leave one no 
right to make it because it displeases the community ? 
Who invents this libel on his country ? It is this very 
thing which entitles Lovejoy to greater praise. The dis- 
puted right which provoked the Revolution — taxation 
without representation — is far beneath that for which he 
died. [Here there was a strong and general expression 
of disapprobation.] One word, gentlemen. As much as 
thought is better than money, so much is the cause in 
which Lovejoy died nobler than a mere question of taxes. 
James Otis thundered in this Hall when the King did 
but touch his pocket. Imagine, if you can, his indignant 
eloquence, had England offered to put a gag upon his 
lips. [Great applause.] 

The question that stirred the Revolution touched our 
civil interests. This concerns us not only as citizens, but 
as immortal beings. Wrapped up in its fate, saved or lost 
with it, are not only the voice of the statesman, but the 
instructions of the pulpit, and the progress of our faith. 

The clergy " marvellously out of place " where free 
speech is battled for, — liberty of speech on national sins ? 
Does the gentleman remember that freedom to preach was 
first gained, dragging in its train freedom to print ? I thank 
the clergy here present, as I reverence their predecessors, 
who did not so far forget their country in their immediate 
profession as to deem it duty to separate themselves from 
the struggle of '76, — the Mayhews and Coopers, who re- 
membered they were citizens before they were clergymen. 

Mr. Chairman, from the bottom of my heart I thank that 
brave little band at Alton for resisting. We must remem- 



l6 FREEDOM SPEECH. 

ber that Lovejoy had fled from city to city, — suffered 
the destruction of three presses patiently. At length he 
took counsel with friends, men of character, of tried integ- 
rity, of wide views, of Christian principle. They thought 
the crisis had come : it was full time to assert the laws. 
They saw around them, not a community like our own, of 
fixed habits, of character moulded and settled, but one "in 
the gristle, not yet hardened into the bone of manhood." 
The people there, children of our older States, seem to have 
forgotten the blood-tried principles of their fathers the 
moment they lost sight of our Ncav England hills. Some- 
thing was to be done to show them the priceless value of 
the freedom of the press, to bring back and set right their 
wandering and confused ideas. He and his advisers looked 
out on a community, staggering like a drunken man, indif- 
ferent to their rights and confused in their feelings. Deaf 
to argument, haply they might be stunned into sobriety. 
They saw that of which we cannot judge, the necessity of 
resistance. Insulted law called for it. Public opinion, 
fast hastening on the downward course, must be arrested. 

Does not the event show they judged rightly ? Ab- 
sorbed in a thousand trifles, how has the nation all at 
once come to a stand ? Men begin, as in 1776 and 1640, 
to discuss principles, to weigh characters, to find out where 
they are. Haply we may awake before we are borne 
over the precipice. 

I am glad, Sir, to see this crowded house. It is good 
for us to be here. When Liberty is in danger, Faneuil 
Hall has the right, it is her duty, to strike the key-note 
for these United States. I am glad, for one reason, that 
remarks such as those to which I have alluded have been 
uttered here. The passage of these resolutions, in spite 
of this opposition, led by the Attorney-General of the 
Commonwealth, will show more clearly, more decisively, 
the deep indignation with which Boston regards this 
outrage. 



mb i a* 



A FEW EXTRACTS FROM OUR MANY LETTERS 



"I sympathize with the object." 

E. II. CAPEN, President of Tufts College 



"I will gladly do what I can to carry forward your movement." 
Rev. EDWARD EVERETT HALE. 



"I am heartily in sympathy with the purpose of the Association, 
and shall be glad to aid it." Rev. PHILIP S. MOXOM. 



"I enclose my check for $50, for my subscription to the building 
fund, wishing you entire success in the laudable undertaking in which 
you are engaged." DANA ESTES. 



"We will increase our subscription $50, making a total of $100 to 
Wendell Phillips Hall Association." 

DENNISON MANUFACTURING CO. 

Albert Metcalf, Treas. 



"I heartily sympathize with your object, and subscribe $50 for the 
Wendell Phillips fund." JOHN G. WHITTIER. 



"Enclosed please find my contribution to your Association. I 
heartily sympathize with its purpose, and wish for it all success." 

HON. WM. E. RUSSELL. 



"I take pleasure in handing you herewith check for one hundred 
dollars to perpetuate the memory of so great a mind and character as 
Wendell Phillips." A. SHUMAN. 

"I enclose herewith check for $100, amount of subscription of The 
Boston Herald Company to the Wendell Phillips Hall Association. 
with best wishes." A. H. BINDEN. Cashier. 

"You have on hand a large and very noble project. I am much 
interested in it. There should be erected in Boston some worthy me- 
morial of her great-hearted son, who loved his native city so inex- 
pressibly that he endured persecution, and wrought mightily to make 
it so free that the foot of a slave should never press its soil. 

"You may put me down for $100 toward the building fund." 

MARY A. LIYERMORE. 



Like and Times 



WENDELL PHILLIPS. 

By Geo. L. Austin, full of heroic thought and thrilling with 
interest, depicting the career of a noble, courageous and 
eloquent man, the friend of the oppressed and the foe of 
every wrong. P. 431. Cloth, heavy tinted paper, post- 
paid, $1-50 
TWENTY-FOUR PROMINENT SPEECHES, LEC- 
TURES AND LETTERS. 

P. 562, Cloth, $1.00 

Library Edition, 2.00 

Additional lectures, Memorial Series, in paper covers. 
THE LOST ARTS. The celebrated Lyceum Lecture by 
Wendell Phillips. Paper, .25 

DANIEL O'CONNELL. The Irish Patriot. Lecture by 
Wendell Phillips. Paper, .25 

THE SCHOLAR IN THE REPUBLIC. Address at the 
Centennial Anniversary of the Phi Beta Kappa of Harvard 
College, June 30, 1881. Paper, .25 

THE LABOR QUESTION. Speeches at various times on 
this subject, by Wendell Phillips. Paper, .25 

The above are sold under special arrangement in aid of 
the Wendell Phillips Hall Fund. Contributions also solicited. 
Checks for a large or small amount may be made payable to J. 
Q. A. Brackett, treasurer, and forwarded to Wendell Phillips 
Hall Association, 74 Tremont Street, Boston. All contrib- 
utors of $5 and upward will receive an artistic souvenir, bear- 
ing the portrait of Wendell Phillips, and signed by the treasur- 
er, Ex-Gov. Brackett. Contributors of less than $5, and not 
less than $1, will receive the same souvenir, signed by the 
assistant treasurer, Nathaniel E. Chase. 
Address all orders or contributions, 

WENDELL PHILLIPS HALL ASSOCIATION, 

74 Tremont Street, - Boston, Mass. 




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